Hollis paced circles around the trunk of a large tree settled on the outskirts of the castle grounds. Her eyes focused on the letter grasped between her small hands, and her mousy brown eyes scanned ferociously over the delicate cursive handwriting. It belonged to her paternal grandmother, Nonna, and dictated in great detail the results of her parents’ latest argument concerning her continued education. The Ravenclaw girl shook her head from side to side, furrowed her brows, laughed aloud, and grunted under her breath all in turn as she read through its entirety. Upon reading the signature and post-script, Hollis stopped short to lean against the sturdy bark and peer up longingly through the spindly branches.

There were times in her early youth when Hollis used to dream of flying. She’d envision herself nestled among cloud cover, a bubble of silence encapsulating her airy figure as it glided through the morning sky. Snap! A sharp strike of fingers would always awaken her from daydreams, an irritated voice following with demands to “stay on task” and “stop being so flighty”. It wasn’t until she discovered the wizarding world that Hollis even entertained the thought of making her dreams a reality. She was a well-educated girl after all, despite her distracting imagination. Unfortunately, even after 4 years of course study at Hogwarts, Hollis’ families just couldn’t comprehend or accept magic as a viable academic outlet. At least most of them, according to her Nonna’s letter.

Hollis smiled to herself and slid down the length of the tree trunk until her backside made contact with the grassy earth below. She reached for her book bag, which had been discarded nearby, and tucked the letter safely into one of the outer pockets. She’d reply later that evening when her stomach was content with a meal and her mind more focused on pleasantries than witty quips and comebacks. The day was still young, and Hollis had long since finished her assignments for the week. A soft breeze swept the short ends of her dark hair across her cheeks, and her eyes closed in a momentary commitment to peace and relaxation.

It was a mildly sad and disturbing thought that this was enough of a rarity to be noteworthy. But he had a feeling that since Gabe had returned, his happiness would be a lot more regular and expected. He liked it. It was wonderful. Everything was wonderful.

Beyond his euphoria at his boyfriend's sudden appearance in Hogsmeade, he had to admit it was also a lovely day. The sun was shining, it wasn't too cold for the time of year (of course, being Norwegian, his sense of cold was skewed), and the holiday break was coming up soon. He truly couldn't complain about much of anything.

Even the random letters he'd recently gotten from Bjørn and their grandmother weren't enough to truly get him down. He'd thrown his grandmother's missive into the fire without so much as reading it. Bjørn's had been...disturbingly nice, in a way that he didn't want to look too deeply into. His cousin had always been...a lot. Which really meant A Lot, considering that Cana himself was a lot. Maybe Bjørn too was trying to be happier and healthier. He doubted it, but it was worth dreaming about.

As he approached the copse of trees he usually went to, he noticed a younger girl taking a catnap. Not wanting to disturb her, he slipped a few trees down and sat as quietly as possible, before taking his journal out of his bag and--

Sneezing.

Loudly.

Looking over at the girl, he sheepishly muttered, "Whoops. Um...sorry."

Felix nipped on the raw meat Trinity held between his fingers. The blond watched as his bird navigated his hand, being careful not to slice his beak through the boy's flesh. It was considerate of Felix, given the fact that Trinity hadn't brought any treats in a while. The raven was a skilled hunter, but he liked something different every now and then.

Running his fingers over the sleek black feathers of the Corvidae, Trinity hummed to himself. He'd had to do a lot of thinking lately. About who he was. What his past meant for his future. It made his head hurt, but he had to figure it out. He hadn't spoken with Lyssa since his conversation with Professor Delaney, but he could only watch her from across the room for so long before it got creepy. Well, creepy-er.

He liked Cana, and it would be a shame if Trinity woke up one day to find some kind of amazing, Norwegian potion slipped into his pumpkin juice. He would understand, really he would. If Trinity ever caught someone looking at Lyssa the way he did...

Trinity had been so lost in thought that he hadn't realized he had wandered his way out of the forest until he caught sight of a body. Make that two bodies. What was that saying? Speak of the Devil...

Hollis was only partially in the realm of cognizance when a rather violent sounding sneeze forced her eyelids upright. She blinked hard a few times, adjusting her vision to the afternoon’s brightness, and rubbed the light sleep from the corners of her eyes before searching for the source of the sound. Her head gently turned to the left, “Whoops. Um… sorry.” Hollis redirected herself to the right, scanning down the line of trees until she saw a boy looking over at her sheepishly. He seemed to be an upperclassman, judging by his overall build and more matured facial features, but Hollis didn’t recognize him beyond that observation. His dark eyebrows were slightly raised, causing a few creases of unspoken apology to stand out against his sun-kissed skin tone. Hollis smiled with closed lips, a set of dimples setting into her girlish face, “Don’t gut yourself over it.”

She stretched her short legs out in front of her before pulling them across each other in a criss-crossed fashion. Hollis giggled to herself and gave side eyes to the stranger, “Obviously I wasn’t invested in anything other than the replenishing of a faulty rem-cycle.” She shrugged her shoulders and noticed another boy step into their chosen clearing. His bouncy, blonde curls were a sharp contrast to the sneeze victim, but unlike Hollis, his eyes seemed to at least widen in some type of recognition. She pressed her palms against the bends in both her knees in an attempt to right herself from the ground, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was interrupting.” She stood upright, backed against the trunk of the tree, and tucked her short, dark hair behind her tiny ear cuffs. Hollis busied herself with securing the pockets and flaps of her book bag in the silence that followed.

He looked up in curiosity as he sensed someone approaching. It was none other than Trinity. He grinned a bit. He considered the other boy somewhat of a friend, and his recent talks with his cousin Lyssa revealed she felt something a little more for the blonde. Trinity seemed like a good choice for Lyssa, Cana thought: quiet, reserved, and not a raging narcissist like her last boyfriend. Plus, despite their friendship, he seemed to have a healthy understanding of the fact Cana would not hesitate to murder him if he hurt the older girl.

Waving slightly, he grinned a bit at Trinity.

"Hi Trinity. What's up?"

Looking back at the girl, he realized how rude he might seem.

"No, it's not a problem. Just a chance meeting between friends. Not interrupting anything. I'm afraid I've been rude. I'm Cana. Cana Havich. I'm a Slytherin sixth year, but a fairly recent transfer. Only been here a few months."

Standing up to his full height, he realized how small the girl was. Even his own mother was taller than her, and he didn't think of Mom as being a very tall person. To be fair, Cana was an outlier in the realm of height and general size at 6'10". Leaning againt the tree, he looked back at Trinity.

"By the way, you didn't hear this from me, because I think Lyssa wants to do it in person, but you're invited for Yule. Say yes. It's definitely like aggressively cheerful with Mom, and you might get overwhelmed, but if nothing else, you'll get an epic stocking of stuff from her and some of the best food in the world."

Trinity was still trying to get used to people noticing him. With Cana, it was less of a shock. The two of them'd had their share of run-ins together, and Trinity was pretty sure that if the taller boy planned on forgetting him, it would have happened by now. The short, pretty girl, however, was the type of person who would usually look right past him. Though, Trinity supposed it was had to blind into the background in a clearing.

The blond's eyes fluttered between the two others as they had their quick conversation. Cana had introduced himself already, so Trinity took his cue from the more social boy. "Hullo, Ah'm Trin'ty. Yew wern' inta'uping nothin'." That should have been good, at least he hoped so. They only other girl he'd really had a coversation with in the last several months was--

"--Lyssa wants to do it in person, but you're invited for Yule. Say yes."

Cana's words brought Trinity's attention back to the taller boy. He wasn't sure what he was talking about, but if Lyssa was there, there would be no way Trinity would miss it. Still, he didn't want to walk into it blindly. With the girl there, though, he didn't want to make a complete full out of himself. Carefully, Trinity asked in Norwegian, "Will you explain this to me later?"

Hollis watched discreetly as the boys exchanged pleasantries with one another. She was absentmindedly rummaging through her pack when one of their voices addressed her directly, “No it’s not a problem. Just a chance meeting between friends. Not interrupting anything. I’m afraid I’ve been rude.” Cana stood upright to finish his introduction, and Hollis couldn’t help how wide her eyes grew. “I’m Cana. Cana Havich. I’m a Slytherin sixth year, but a fairly recent transfer. Only been here a few months.” She managed to stifle the exclamation that rose up her throat with a hard gulp, and instead smiled sweetly at the upperclassman. Colossal was probably an understatement in regards to his towering height, but it was the word that Hollis thought silently to herself as he leaned back against a nearby tree trunk. She straightened her posture just as the softer, blonde boy began to speak, “Hullo, A’hm Trinity. Yew wern’ inta’uping nothin’.” It was just her luck to happen upon a swarthy giant and a cockney golden boy all in one sitting!

Although she’d made a handful of friends in her years at Hogwarts, Hollis preferred the atmosphere of her eagle common room and the solace of many other contemplative spots she’d discovered in and around the castle. It wasn’t that she was an introvert by any means, but her muggle upbringing left her skin prickling with a sense of inadequacy. She coveted her spare time as a means to get a “leg up” on her spellwork and general wizarding knowledge in comparison to her peers. Trinity’s dialect shifted to a foreign vernacular as he cautiously questioned Cana. The thick tones steered Hollis in the direction of a Germanic origin, but the individual words and phrases were lost to her bright mind. She situated her pack more comfortably against her shoulder and finally took her turn in greeting the two boys, “Well in that case, I’m Hollis. Hollis Warlow.” Her cheeks dimpled with an impish grin as she carefully tested the unfamiliar social waters, “I guess you could say I’m somewhat of a transfer student myself, but far less exotic. I hope you don’t mind my asking, but where is home for you?”

She focused her gaze on Cana, somewhat fascinated with not only his appearance but also the mystery behind his introduction and Trinity’s foreign response aimed at the Slytherin boy. Hollis chided herself mentally for staring, and turned to Trinity politely as she added, “~Both~ of you.” Her head dipped curiously to the side, shifting the straight cut bangs against her forehead, and the petite girl laced her fingers together and pushed her arms away from her chest. A small series of pops followed before she dunked her wrists deep into the pockets of her Ravenclaw robes. Hollis stepped a little closer to her two new acquaintances before breaking the momentary silence, “Surrey,” her teeth glistened in the mid-morning light, “But my father’s Italian, and my mother travels so often that I’m not sure she would be comfortable with the title of ‘home’.” Hollis offered her own response first, hoping that the gesture would merit an equally satisfying response from both Cana and Trinity in turn.

Cana nodded back at Trinity and with a smile offered an "of course" in Norwegian.

Turning back to the small girl, he could see her face open in wonder at his height. Grinning a bit, he straightened his shoulders so he wasn't slouching as much. Not necessarily to impress her--he wasn't into girls after all--but it always amused him to see people's reactions when they saw there was even more of him.

"Nice to meet you, Hollis," Cana nodded politely. "Not too exotic, I'm afraid. I'm from Norway, and I went to school in Sweden. My mother is Indian-American by way of Gujarat though, which gives me the impression of being far more interesting than I actually am. Where are you hailing from? You said you were a sort of transfer?"

Cana didn't particularly like the term exotic being applied to people. After all what was exotic to one culture was commonplace to another, and it rather made people sound like things. But she seemed well-intentioned, so he wasn't going to bring it up.

Cana did glance over to Trinity though. Despite them being friends, he didn't know many of the basic pleasantries one got from their mere acquaintances. He was curious to know where Trinity had gotten that...interesting accent from.

Trinity pet Felix once more down his back and then let the bird fly off. The raven didn't much like people when there wasn't food about, and Trinity had given him the rest of the meat he had gathered. Cleaning his hands off on his trousers, Trinity listened as thew two others introduced where they were from. Both of them were looking at him, as if expecting him to share as well. Oh. Right, He could do that.

"Ah'm frum 'ere," the boy said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. It was the best he could really give. He didn't remember all too much about before Hogwarts and lived at the school year round. Trinity shrugged awkwardly. Were all conversations this awkward? He didn't feel like they were, but he wasn't really the best judge of that.

The only people he had really talked with in... years, were Cana, Lyssa, and Professor Delaney. Though that conversation was more scary than awkward. Hollis didn't seem like a scary person though. She was tiny and kind of cute... like a rabbit. Maybe if he though of her that way, things would be easier?

The blond took a few steps closer to the other two and leaned against a tree, trying to look like he wasn't fighting the urge to run at every second. He didn't know if it worked.

Cana straightened his shoulders which added at least another inch or two to his already intimidating height. “Nice to meet you, Hollis,” the Slytherin upperclassman nodded politely in her direction, “Not too exotic, I'm afraid. I'm from Norway, and I went to school in Sweden.” Hollis resisted the urge to snap her fingers together and instead mentally praised herself for vaguely recognizing the language exchanged between the two boys earlier in their conversation. Her mother had insisted upon multiple language studies for Hollis before the girl could even speak properly herself, and it had certainly come in handy during her time at Hogwarts. It seemed the wizarding school was a melting pot of cultures and backgrounds which she greatly enjoyed and embraced.

“Where are you hailing from? You said you were a sort of transfer?” Hollis blinked her eyes rapidly, resurfacing from her momentary mental stupor, and brushed her teeth shyly against her lower lip. Her small shoulders pulled together into a feeble shrug, “Oh, that?” The Ravenclaw girl could feel a faint heat spreading across her face to kiss the cuffs of her ears, “It was just a joke. Obviously a terrible one without proper context,” she laughed at herself to eliminate the sense of embarrassment, “Muggle-born.” She stated it matter-of-factly while pivoting her hand from her bangs to the bottom of her chin to reiterate. Luckily, she didn’t have to manually turn the spotlight from herself because Trinity interjected in the nick of time, “Ah'm frum 'ere.”

She turned to see a large, black bird fly from the boy’s shoulder that she hadn’t noticed initially, and the curly, blonde cautiously stepped closer to the pair. He didn’t say anything more, however, but his eyes seemed to anxiously scan the ground between herself and Cana. Hollis skipped a full step forward, leaving her pack discarded at the base of the tree, and pointed excitedly in the direction Trinity’s bird had exited moments before. “Is that ~yours~?” She scanned the tree line of the forest for another glimpse of glistening ebon, but the clever bird had disappeared into the security of thick, entangled branches. Hollis turned her attention back to Cana and Trinity with a whimsical smile, “My primary teachers wouldn’t even let us get a class hamster!” Her words were tinged with disbelief and a playful jealousy.